The use of oil bottles or other recipients containing oil for dressing salads and the like is a common operation, which is widely known in the current state of the art. The recipients used for these purposes incorporate some kind of outlet conduit which generally consists of a hole of reduced diameter allowing the user to control as far as possible the amount of oil poured during the salad dressing operation. Oil bottles have some practical disadvantages, for example the fact that the outlet conduit has a reduced diameter and hence a very limited flow rate. An oil bottle or dispenser is practical when it is used to dress an individual salad or the like, which requires a relatively small amount of oil, but is not so practical when in comes to dressing salads intended for a number of people, in which case the limited flow rate requires a greater amount of handling and time; another drawback consists of the fact that the single outlet with a limited flow rate means that the air drawn into the recipient as the product is extracted also has to circulate through the same conduit as the oil being poured; this shakes the pouring intermittent, with continuous interruptions which hamper the extraction operation by causing the oil to come out in spurts.
The state of the art shows different valves or rotating mechanisms to modify the pouring flow rate. However, these devices have the disadvantage that the number of parts required for manufacture increases, with the subsequent cost and, on the other hand, residues of the liquids, in particular when viscous liquids are poured, accumulate in the joins, and may compromise the quality of the stored liquid.
The problem solved by the invention is to find a multi-flow dosage cap with the minimum number of parts, which produces a uniform flow of the liquid.
The solution found by the inventors is a cap with a lower part with the means to adapt it to the recipient, a pouring channel and an upper part which comprises pouring means. The pouring means are two “U”-shaped channelled tracks with different radii. The channelled tracks are located at diametrically opposed points. The lower part and the upper part of the cap are separated by a partition. The partition contains a slit which ends in two holes with different areas, and the aforementioned channelled tracks are aligned with the holes, i.e. the track with the larger radius is aligned with the hole with the larger area.
The cap produces two different flow rates of oil. This allows the user to choose which of the two holes should be used at each moment, depending or whether, for example, the salad to be dressed is individual or is a larger salad intended for consumption by more than one person. This cap construction also has the feature that the flow of oil provided is continuous, without interruptions, given that, because only one of the conduits for the oil is used at any one time, the other conduit acts as an air inlet, thus facilitating the extraction of oil.
The present multi-flow dosage cap has the advantage of being perfectly adjustable to the necks of the current recipients. In a preferred embodiment, the adjustment involves a screw thread or by pressure.
According to the invention, the design of the presently proposed cap allows various forms of embodiment. In a first embodiment, the interior space of the cap is divided by means of an internal central partition, with a slit in the central partition and two holes. The pouring channel ends in two “U”-shaped pipes or conduits, with different radii, and the pouring conduits are aligned with the holes in the central partition. This means that, by tilting the bottle to one side or another, the desired outlet conduit can be selected, and thus the volume of oil in the chosen flow. The slit allows air to enter and gives a continuous flow.
In other embodiments of the inventive cap, the internal division may contain an integrated partition running lengthways to the centre of the cap, which determines at the outlet end two conduits or pipes with very different respective flow capacities; one or other of the outlets is selected as described above, i.e. by tilting the bottle to one side or the other. In a preferential embodiment, the central partition is sloping. In addition to the formation of a sloping internal partition, the profile of the partition may either be straight or curved, arched.
In another particular mode, the cap contains a skirt ring which projects outwards in a radial direction, and is adapted to be coupled to the edge of the neck or the recipient. The skirt prevents any dripping liquid from staining the table.
The cap may be manufactured with any material compatible with the liquid to be poured. In a preferred mode, it is made of polypropylene and injection-moulded.
The cap is suitable for the manufacture of oil holders or bottles containing oils.